Just received the email everybody’s been expecting for weeks… Telstra will be selling the iPhone 3G, along with Optus and Vodafone, on July 11.
They’ve also announced some pricing information: iPhone 3G will be available from Telstra on July 11 with a range of specially designed Next G™ iPhone 3G plans that meet the needs of any customer. The Next G iPhone 3G plans start at $30 per month with an upfront cost of $279 for the 8GB model and $399 for the 16GB model. Customers will receive the 8GB iPhone 3G model at no cost with the $80 plan and either the 8GB or the 16GB model at no cost with plans starting at $100 per month. All plans include free Wi-Fi access at Telstra hotspots and require a 24-month contract.
Obviously, this doesn’t go into detail of how much data will be included, although the added benefit of Telstra hotspots is nice – there’s one of those at most Starbucks and airport lounges around the country.
Full press release after the jump – I’ll go rabbiting for more info in the meantime.
On top of giving away 35,000 PS3s with Bravia purchases during July, Sony are also introducing a whole heap of new models to the Australian market.
There are three new ranges: The W series; V series and S series, and they range in price from $799 for a 20-inch model right up to $4,699 for a 52-inch 1080p W-series set.
The full specs for each, plus their pricing, is below the fold. With the Olympics around the corner and special deals happening everywhere you turn, this could be a great chance to upgrade your TV.
At last week’s HTC Touch Diamond launch, I had a chance to sit down with HTC’s CEO Peter Chou. I was going to chat with Horace Luke – their CIO – as well, but he had to run down to prepare the presentation.
The main focus was obviously the new Touch Diamond handset, but we also touched on things like the evolution of TouchFLO, the Touch Pro, HTC’s pricing and their move into the UMPC market. He also deftly avoided most of my Android questions as well.
Here’s part one of the interview:
Mitsubishi’s 149 iSP series LCDs have a 16-speaker sound bar built-in for people who are too lazy (like me) or don’t know how (like my parents) to set up a home theatre. The integrated Sound Projector, as it’s called, sends sound flying around the walls to act like surround sound–in my experience, it was way better than typical front speaker-only setups but didn’t match the immersive feeling of true surround.
Rhapsody, known for its subscription music service, just opened a DRM-free MP3 store. The MP3s are encoded in 256kpbs CBR, and run US$.99 per track and US$9.99 per album. Shoppers can preview 25 full-length tracks a month from the standard 5 million song catalog, which is extra sweet if you ask us. To kick things off, the first 100,000 sign-ups to the store until July 4th get one album for free, so give it a try and let us know how it stacks up against the big boys. AU: I haven’t checked yet, but I’m almost certain that this will be US only. Feel free to let me know if we can access it down under.
[Rhapsody]
Congratulations, Sony Ericsson, for winning what was ultimately a barely challenging competition to become the greenest electronics company around. Our favourite Swedish-Japanese conglomerate rose to the top of Greenpeace’s Greener Electronics Guide by exceeding Energy Star requirements, making all its models PVC-free and banning the most harmful chemicals from phones launched since January 2008. Unfortunately, it was valedictorian in a class whose scores have plummeted all around.
The Mummy Megaphone is a gag gift for parents that bills itself as a “sure-fire way to get everyone to listen.” It has a speak mode and a siren mode, can project over 150 metres and is allegedly weather and baby-resistant. With an adjustable volume range of 5 to 10 Watts however, it’s almost completely useless. Kids are yelly; when I was young, I’m pretty sure I’d hit 10 Watts in a normal conversation. You know what would be more effective? Holding up a paddle. That always got me to listen right quick. [Nerd Approved]
Manufacturers are powering up on their Blu-ray disc development, now the format war’s over: just two weeks ago we had the 6x speed ones, and now Delkin have these archive-quality discs. According to Delkin they’re the first BDs “guaranteed to preserve data safely for over 200 years” and they use some sort of patented phase-change tech to make the discs resistant to UV degradation. They’re also 25GB, 4x speed burnable, and have an anti-scratch coating. You’re only going to want to preserve really important stuff on them though: a ten-pack will cost you US$250. Now, to find a Blu-ray player that’ll last two centuries… [Reghardware]
For those of you who have seen the Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy violence-fuelled campfest Wanted, Wired has an expose up on how they filmed some of their craziest scenes. Russian director Timur Bakmambetov used his own Moscow-based special effects company to create the movie’s non-stop, over-the-top action. At his disposal was everything from a European high-speed train equipped with hydraulics that rotated 360 degrees to scanned digital stunt doubles. Warning: If you haven’t watched the movie yet and actually want to, the article contains a load of spoilers. [Wired]
In the battle for video card domination, dark horse Matrox never seemed to even come close to keeping up with Nvidia and ATI’s crazy GPU arms race. But after fading almost completely from the gadgetsphere, the company has suddenly returned with the launch of five new graphics cards under its “M-Series” line. The M-Series targets the multi-display market and consists of two low-profile PCIe cards and three standard formate ATX PCIe cards.
